EV’ Collaborates with the New York Pops for Outdoor Concert

June 29th, 2005

On June 29, one of New York’s favorite outdoor parks was transformed into a concert hall with seating for ten thousand when The New York Pops, led by Skitch Henderson, performed a free outdoor concert of great American and international orchestral music in midtown’s Bryant Park on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue at 8:00PM. Behind this transformation was a team of dedicated technicians and EV, one of America’s premier makers of loudspeaker systems.

Reproducing the sound of seventy-seven world-class musicians in a large outdoor space such as Bryant Park represents a formidable challenge: How to satisfy the demands of a loyal audience more accustomed to hearing the orchestra at Carnegie Hall, where the orchestra performs most of its concerts?

Two years ago, the orchestra took this challenge to EV, who responded with a revolutionary loudspeaker system, audiophile quality microphones, amplifiers and mixing consoles. For New York Pops Music Director Skitch Henderson, the collaboration with EV was a dream come true: “After all my years of surviving third-rate public address systems, this was the first time I ever listened to a speaker that brought the true sounds of the orchestra to the audience,“ said Henderson, former NBC music director and Tonight Show conductor. “It was the first time it was real.“

The main components of sound reproduction for the Bryant Park concert included an EV XLCTM compact line-array loudspeaker system and a Midas Heritage 3000 mixing console, run by veteran audio engineer Dan Gerhard. The XLC offers unparalleled sonic definition, coverage and control, making it ideal for large-audience outdoor applications like this.

An engineer and professional musician who specializes in producing sound for televised awards shows and orchestra, New York Pops audio engineer Dan Gerhard credits the sound quality of the EV system with creating the exceptional sound of The New York Pops live in Bryant Park. “The XLC is a flexible, medium sized line-array box that has already proven itself as a highly effective solution in concert hall settings, with high phase coherency and a transparent high end,“ he said. “The XLC is also very useful in providing easier set-up than many similar systems.“

The concert, entitled “America the Beautiful: Celebrating the 4th!“ featured the favorite American anthems “God Bless America“ and “America the Beautiful“ as well as gems from the American songbook by Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and George M. Cohan. This concert was part of Summermusic, The New York Pops’ free concert series in New York City parks, now in its 10th year.

EV is proud to be an official sponsor of The New York Pops

The New York Pops was founded by former NBC Music Director Skitch Henderson in 1983 to give New York a permanent professional symphonic pops orchestra that would create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The orchestra is now the largest independent symphonic pops orchestra in the United States.

Electro-Voice (EV), is a professional audio brand of Telex Communications, Inc., a leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of sophisticated audio, wireless, multimedia, aircraft, broadcast and communications equipment for commercial, professional and industrial customers. Telex Communications markets its products in more than 80 countries under the brands EV, Telex, RTS, Dynacord, Midas, Klark Teknik and others.